OAKLAND / 23 signals to get countdown devices

The Public Works Agency will be installing pedestrian countdown warning devices at 23 traffic signals throughout the city under a recent $131,000 state grant.

The devices already are being used elsewhere in Oakland, San Francisco and other cities with heavy pedestrian traffic. The signals count down each second so pedestrians know exactly how much they have time to cross the street before the light changes.

Oakland installed 26 of the signals last year in such areas as downtown, Rockridge and East Oakland. Advocates credit the signals in Chinatown with improving pedestrian safety.

The grant awarded in April by the California Office of Traffic Safety also will fund an outreach campaign to explain the signals and provide safety tips in Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese.